‘Islamist gunman’ kills five in attack on Kazakhstan police station

Officers detain a suspect after the shootings at a police station in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The 26-year-old man was said to have been radicalised in prisonReuters/Pavel Mikheyev

Five people were shot dead in an attack on a police station and the security service headquarters in the Kazakhstani city of Almaty yesterday.

A man aged 26 was detained after the attack in the central Asian state. At least three of the dead were police officers.

The motive has not been confirmed but Kazakhstan’s security services said that the alleged gunman, Ruslan Kulikbayev, was a mobile phone seller who had become acquainted with Islamists during a spell in prison for possessing a firearm. President Nazarbayev described it as a terrorist attack.

Mr Kulikbayev allegedly killed a police guard at the Almalinsky district police station about 11am local time, seizing his automatic weapon. He then tried to hijack a car, shooting dead the driver, and…

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